United Nations Academic Impact Forum

Australian Universities should work together with other universities in Asia, developing a network that can increase the awareness and effectiveness of Korean Studies.

This is one of the points of a senior academic from the Australian School of Business who made a presentation at the United Nations Academic Impact Forum in Seoul.

Professor Chung-Sok Suh​, the Executive Director of the
Korea Research Institute at The University of New South Wales, discussed a new model of engagement between UNSW and universities in South East Asia, at the United Nations Academic Impact Forum in Korea, which is attracting luminaries such as the Secretary-General of the United Nations, H. E. Ban Ki-Moon.

Professor Chung-Sok Suh said "One of the main goals of the United Nations Academic Impact Forum is to promote international cooperation among universities. In order for such cooperation to have long-lasting effects in the recipients’ countries, however, collaboration and assistance should not be a one-way flow from one country to the other. It should instead be planned and designed from the recipients’ perspective and with all countries involved acting as equal partners."

Professor Chung-Sok Suh has been developing a new Korean Studies Strategic Network for Collaboration in Higher Education among leading universities in Southeast Asia and Korea.

He says that it is very important to ensure that understanding remains local, while still teaching the context of globalisation. "What this means is we believe globalisation cannot be successful without successful localisation. Korean Studies in a foreign partner country cannot continually rely on the resources developed in Korea over an extended period of time. Korean Studies can be sustained only when a critical mass of local scholars emerge and form a research community, setting their research agendas driving the educational programs in each country and in the region."